Eleven people including children struck by lightning in Paris

UpdatedMay 29, 2016 — 1.31pmfirst published at 3.06am

Paris: Eight children and three adults have been struck by lightning in a Paris park after a sudden spring storm sent a bolt crashing down upon a children's birthday party, a spokesman for Paris' fire service says.

He credited an off-duty firefighter with playing a critical role in getting medical help to the victims on Saturday but some were still fighting for their lives.

White-and-red tape is strung across a pathway through Parc Monceau after the lightning strike.Credit:AP

Another group of people at a children's soccer match in Hoppstaedten in western Germany were also hit by lightning on Saturday afternoon, leaving three adults seriously injured. Of the 35 injured, 30 were children.

The birthday group in France had sought shelter under a tree at Parc Monceau, a north-west Paris park popular with well-to-do families, when lightning struck, according to Paris fire service spokesman Eric Moulin.

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A child's glasses and a jacket lie on a rock in the Parc Monceau after the lightning strike which left 11 people injured.Credit:AP

He said Pascal Gremillet, an off-duty firefighter, was visiting a museum nearby when he noticed the commotion and discovered nine of the 11 victims lying unconscious on the ground under the tree.

He immediately went to work.

"He saw who was the most seriously injured. He did a quick triage of the victims. He did first aid. He alerted the rescue services," Mr Moulin said. "Without his actions, it would have been much worse."

Mr Moulin said six of those hit were seriously injured - with three children and one adult fighting for their lives. He said five others had been slightly injured by the lightning, including four children.

A fire truck is parked at the entrance to Parc Monceau. The lightining strike left an adult and three children fighting for their lives.Credit:AP

Footage shot by the fire service showed a dramatic scene at a nearby bank that was commandeered as a makeshift treatment centre, with children wrapped in gold thermal blankets sitting and lying on the building's tiled floor as firefighters administered first aid before evacuating the victims to area hospitals.

Two small feet, smudged with what looked like soot, stuck out from underneath one of the blankets.

Mr Moulin gave the children's ages as around nine years old.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw an abandoned pair of children's glasses and jacket near the tree. White-and-red tape was strung around the area and whistle-blowing park wardens ushered weekend joggers out of the park, which was swiftly closed.

"This accident is extremely rare in the Paris region," professor Pierre Carli, an emergency medical services official, told reporters at a press conference following the strike.